About the Artists

Jonathan Burrows & Matteo Fargion

Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion bring deep histories in their home genres (dance and music) to bear on their collaborative duet performances. Long time friends and creative partners, their first performance of “Both Sitting Duet” in 2002 marked the start of their shared work. Burrows and Fargion collectively share responsibility for the building of the duet as well as self administering and performing. While each artist maintains an active independent creative and teaching practice, the body of their work has grown to contain a collection of eight performance duets and two lecture performances, to date.

Jonathan Burrows danced with the Royal Ballet for 13 years before leaving to pursue his own choreography. His main focus now is an ongoing series of duets with the composer Matteo Fargion , with whom he has given over 300 performances across 31 countries. The two are currently in- house artists at the Nightingale Brighton and their most recent performance Body Not Fit For Purpose had its world premiere as part of the 2014 Venice Biennale. Burrows and Fargion are contributing artists for William Forsythe’s Motionbank website project. Other high profile commissions include work for for Sylvie Guillem, Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt and the National Theatre, London. Burrows has been an Associate Artist at Kunstencentrum Vooruit in Gent, Belgium, London’s South Bank Centre and Kaaitheater Brussels. He is a visiting member of faculty at P.A.R.T.S Brussels and has also been Guest Professor at universities in Berlin, Gent, Giessen, Hamburg and London. ‘A Choreographer's Handbook’ has sold over 7,500 copies since its publication in 2010 and is available from Routledge Publishing.

Matteo Fargion studied composition with composers Kevin Volans and Howard Skempton. His interest in dance began after seeing Merce Cunningham perform in London, which encouraged him to apply for for the International Course for Choreographers and Composers through which he met choreographer Jonathan Burrows. The two have worked closely on a body of work conceived, created and performed together, which has become celebrated internationally for its rare combination of intellectual rigour and humour. Fargion has written music for other choreographers including Lynda Gaudreau and Russell Maliphant, and has worked particularly closely with choreographer Siobhan Davies, writing music for some of her most significant recent work including The Art of Touch (1995) and Minutes for the Collection (2009). Fargion also writes for theatre, particularly in Germany, where he has worked over a number of years at the Residenz Theater Munich and at the Berlin Schaubühne with Thomas Ostermeier.